WND EXCLUSIVE

School decides future of radio-chipping for students

1 girl already expelled for refusing constant radio monitor

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially.

A San Antonio, Texas, school district that expelled from a magnet school a sophomore girl who had religious objections to being radio-chipped for tracking and identification purposes now has decided to drop the program.

The Rutherford Institute, which has defended 15-year-old Andrea Hernandez, a Christian, said the decision “is proof that change is possible if Americans care enough to take a stand and make their discontent heard,” said

Constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of Rutherford, said that as Hernandez demonstrated, “the best way to ensure that your government officials hear you is by never giving up, never backing down, and never remaining silent – even when things seem hopeless.”

The program had allowed school officials to track students’ location on school property at all times.

According to school officials, the decision to stop the Student Locator Project was due in part to low participation rates, negative publicity and the Rutherford Institute’s lawsuit.